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Trade Center board OKs new management contract

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority will take over management of the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center on April 1.

In a unanimous decision, the trade center board on Tuesday approved a three-year management contract with the Atlanta-based authority, effectively transferring those duties from SMG, the nation’s largest venue management company, which has operated the convention center since it opened its doors in 2000.

SMG will continue to provide the facility’s food and beverage service through its SAVOR subsidiary.

“We have a very workable document here, one that is financially superior to the one we’ve had in the past, is superior for the employees and should provide additional benefits for our community in the future,” Trade Center board chairman Mark Smith told his board at the special called meeting.

Smith said the new partnership will provide opportunities to build additional convention business synergies between Savannah and Atlanta through the two organizations’ sales and marketing programs and will allow the World Congress Center to work collaboratively with Visit Savannah in marketing the Savannah center as a premier business destination.

“The GWCC authority has the ability to take a high-performing asset to the next level,” he said.

Almost all of the trade center’s management staff have signed on with GWCC and will become state employees when the contract takes effect next week, trade center executive director Bob Coffey said, adding that only one employee declined the offer because she had already taken a new job.

Coffey acknowledged that, while the former SMG contract employees will be compensated for accrued vacation and sick leave as of March 31, they will not be able to transfer benefits and will begin April 1 as “Day One state employees, with no transfer of senority.”

“However, state benefits are comparable to what we have been getting, and they accrue much faster,” he said, noting that a state employee is eligible for three weeks of vacation and three weeks of sick leave after only a year of service.

The state health insurance plan and retirement benefits are comparable, with state insurance premiums lower, he said.

Because SAVOR employees remain with SMG, they will see no changes, Coffey said.

The new contract with GWCC drops the yearly base management fee from $200,000 to $175,000, Smith said, adding that the center will also benefit from a new agreement with SMG that changes the food and beverage revenue split from 70/30 to 85/15.

“Our research is indicating that, with this change, we should see an increase in food and beverage revenue of between $175,000 and $250,000 a year,” Smith said.

Located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the Georgia World Congress Center includes a 3.9 million-square-foot convention center, the 71,250-seat Georgia Dome and the 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park and ranks among the top five largest convention destinations in the country.